Instant weekend: Kiev

Nick Redman's guide on what to see, where to eat and where to party in the Ukrainian capital

Why should I go? You've savoured the mild old-Communist chill of Prague, Cracow and Budapest, and you are ready for something a little more heavy-duty. Moscow? Fine, if you don't mind gathering cobwebs while you wait for the visa. Step forward Kiev, capital of Ukraine and the eastern Europe that EasyJet forgot.

A 3Åhr flight from Heathrow and you can be pacing through Mariinsky, a bracing white-winter park, towards a hearty dinner of dumplings. Kiev is austerely beautiful: the late-afternoon sun tinting the gold cathedral domes pink; the monks shovelling snow off the monastery steps; even the monstrous Stalinist masonry along Khreshchatyk boulevard, as you wander to Independence Square. Then nightfall, bringing the neon bling of a housey club. Go now - you'll always have Paris.

What do I do? Dress like an auditionee for Doctor Zhivago - winter turns abruptly brutal - then, suitably muffled, go for gold. The skyline is blistered